A total of 66,600 poor and hardcore poor households, registered and verified under e-Kasih, have received their monthly electricity bill rebate of RM40 each effective Jan 1 this year, according to Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin.

However, she said, her ministry’s data showed that a total of 142,200 households registered under e-Kasih had yet to register with utility companies, namely, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) and Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB).

“After taking into account the poverty line income of 2016, we target a total of 208,800 e-Kasih households to receive this assistance in order for the subsidy to be distributed to the target group.

“The government is very concerned and committed in an effort to ease the burden of the people through the 2019 Budget,” she said in a press conference on the latest development on the RM40 electricity bill rebate programme in Putrajaya today.

During the tabling of the 2019 Budget, the government announced the increase of the monthly subsidy to RM40, from RM20 implemented previously, involving an allocation of RM140 million.

Signing up

Yeo said the number of the rebate recipients registered was less than the target due to some households’ bills being registered under other family members’ names, and others living in rental properties.

“I urge those who are eligible to immediately register their electricity billing account at any nearby TNB, SESB or SEB branches. 

"I also urge all the elected representatives to be more proactive by going down to the ground to assist the recipients to register,” she said.

Consumers can check their e-Kasih and rebate eligibility at the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry portal, or by calling the My Government Call Centre (MyGCC) at 03-80008000.

Yeo said the allocation of RM20 in the previous budget was automatically distributed to all electricity bills under the amount, regardless of the households’ monthly income, or if the recipients were citizens.

As a result, only one-third of the allocation was distributed to those who needed it.

She also pointed out that the RM40 electricity bill rebate programme was an improvement from the previous subsidy implemented over the last 10 years, and the savings made would be channelled to other aid programmes that would be announced in the second quarter of this year.

- Bernama